The culture on industrial scale of microorganisms of the genera Helicobacter, Campylobacter and Arcobacter is getting more and more important both for the production of relevant amounts of the same microorganisms and because of the importance of the products which can be produced during the fermentation culture or still for the manufacture of cheap media suitable for the primary isolation of microorganisms belonging to the aforementioned genera. With regard to the importance attained by the above cited microorganisms, it should be considered, for instance, that the Helicobacter pylori is recognized as the aetiological agent of type B gastritis, likely the second most disseminated chronic infection in the world after dental caries, and as co-agent of peptic ulcer. Infection with Helicobacter pylori has also been associated with increased risk for gastric carcinoma, a disease which may be responsible for one million deaths annually. Forman, et al., Br. Med. J., 302: 1302-1305, 1991. The microbial etiology of these diseases indicates that they might be prevented through vaccination. It is therefore evident that a more developed knowledge of the physiological and pathological properties of said microorganism, knowledge that at present is still very poor due to the difficulty involved in the cultivation, and the large scale cultivation of such microorganism, should be of extreme importance.
The cultures of H. pylori are usually carried out by adding to the culture media blood or derivatives thereof (serum, red cells etc.), yolk in concentration ranging between 5% and 20%. Said additives, obviously, cannot be employed on industrial scale because of the drawbacks deriving therefrom for the purification of the culture products, drawbacks which moreover involve high costs for the industry. It is therefore extremely interesting to avail a culture media wherein blood and derivatives thereof are replaced, entirely or partially, by products which do not bring about the above cited disadvantages, without compromising the culture yield though.